Christopher Stowell

Last updated
Christopher Stowell
Born1966 (age 58–59)
New York City
Occupations
Career
Current group Royal Winnipeg Ballet
Former groups National Ballet of Canada
San Francisco Ballet
Oregon Ballet Theatre

Christopher Stowell (born 1966) [1] is an American ballet dancer and choreographer. He is currently the artistic director of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. [2] He was formerly the associate artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada for six years. He was previously the artistic director of the Oregon Ballet Theatre. Before that, he danced professionally with the San Francisco Ballet for sixteen years. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Born in New York City, he is the son of Kent Stowell and Francia Russell, who were dancers with New York City Ballet. [4] At the age of four he moved to Germany with his parents, who danced with the Bavarian State Ballet in Munich and then became the artistic directors of the Frankfurt Ballet. [1] He moved back to the United States in 1977, when his parents became the founding artistic directors of the Pacific Northwest Ballet. [5] Christopher trained with the Pacific Northwest Ballet School in Seattle and the School of American Ballet in New York. [3]

Career

Stowell joined the San Francisco Ballet (SFB) in 1985, where he became a principal dancer in 1990. [6] He performed in ballets such as Romeo and Juliet , Swan Lake , The Sleeping Beauty , and Othello . Stowell appeared in most of SFB's productions of George Balanchine's ballets and danced roles created for him by choreographers such as Mark Morris, William Forsythe, James Kudelka, and SFB's artistic director Helgi Tómasson. Other venues he performed at include Lincoln Center in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, and the Paris Opera. [3] He retired from the San Francisco Ballet in April 2001. [6] [7]

He then worked as a teacher and coach in San Francisco, New York, Europe, and Japan. He choreographed new ballets for the San Francisco Ballet, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Pennsylvania Ballet, and the Diablo Ballet. [3]

Stowell joined the Oregon Ballet Theatre as artistic director in July 2003. [6] His additions to the company's repertoire include ballets by Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Christopher Wheeldon, Paul Taylor, Lar Lubovitch, Frederick Ashton, and Helgi Tómasson. Stowell has also commissioned works from choreographers such as Trey McIntyre, James Kudelka, Julia Adam and Kent Stowell. [3] By the end of the 2010-2011 season, Stowell had added 50 new works, 20 of which were world premieres. [4]

In 2004, Stowell was named one of "25 to Watch" by Dance Magazine . [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Northwest Ballet</span> Ballet company of Seattle, USA

Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) is an American ballet company based in Seattle, Washington. It is said to have the highest per capita attendance in the United States, with 11,000 subscribers in 2004. The company consists of 49 dancers and hosts more than 100 performances throughout the year; it is especially known for its performance of the Stowell/Maurice Sendak Nutcracker, which it presented from 1983 through 2014 and produced as a feature film in 1986.

The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional vocational ballet training for students aged 11–18. Graduates of the school achieve employment with leading ballet companies worldwide, and in the United States with New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet and Houston Ballet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon Ballet Theatre</span> Ballet company in Portland, Oregon, United States

Oregon Ballet Theatre (OBT) is a ballet company in Portland, Oregon, United States. The company performs an annual five-program season at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts and conducts regional and national tours. It was featured in the October/November 2007 issue of Pointe magazine, with principal dancer Kathi Martuza on the cover.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Francisco Ballet</span> U.S. ballet company

San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco. Tamara Rojo has been its director since December of 2022.

Lawrence Pech is a dancer, choreographer and teacher currently living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Peter Boal is artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet and director of its affiliated school in Seattle, Washington. He was born in Bedford, New York, in 1965 and began studies at the School of American Ballet (SAB) at age nine.

Jeffrey Golladay is an American ballet dancer and was a member of the corps de ballet with American Ballet Theatre (ABT).

Helgi Tomasson is an Icelandic choreographer, and a former professional ballet dancer. He served as artistic director and principal choreographer for San Francisco Ballet.

Gonzalo Garcia is a Spanish American ballet dancer. He joined the San Francisco Ballet in 1998, and was promoted to principal in 2002, at age 22. In 2007, he left the company and joined the New York City Ballet. He retired from performing in 2022 and remains in the company as a repertory director.

Katita Waldo is a Spanish ballet dancer and ballet master. She joined the San Francisco Ballet in 1988, was promoted to principal dancer in 1994, and retired from performing in 2010, but remains in the company as a ballet master.

Damian Smith is an Australian retired ballet dancer who was a principal dancer at the San Francisco Ballet. He is now the artistic director of The National Ballet school in Melbourne.

Aubert Vanderlinden is an international award winning ballet dancer and choreographer, he was born in 1985, in Uccle, Belgium.

Alison Roper is an American professional ballet dancer who performed as a principal dancer with the Oregon Ballet Theatre.

Kathi Martuza is an American professional ballet dancer who currently performs as a principal dancer with the Oregon Ballet Theatre. She previously danced with the San Francisco Ballet for six years and is also known as Kathleen Martuza.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Val Caniparoli</span>

Val Caniparoli is an American ballet dancer and international choreographer. His work includes more than 100 productions for ballet, opera, and theater for over 50 companies, and his career as a choreographer progressed globally even as he continued his professional dance career with the San Francisco Ballet.

Janet Reed was an American ballerina and ballet mistress. She danced with San Francisco Ballet from 1937 to 1941 as leading ballerina.

Francia Russell is the former co-artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet and former director of Pacific Northwest Ballet School, from 1977 to 2005. She was a soloist with the New York City Ballet, where she later became ballet master. In 1975, Russell became co-artistic director of Frankfurt Ballet with her husband, Kent Stowell, and in 1977, they accepted the position of artistic directors of Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, Washington. With Stowell, Russell built Pacific Northwest Ballet from a local organization to one of national and international prominence.

References

  1. 1 2 Raymond, Camela (June 2008). "The Purist" (PDF). Portland Monthly . Archived from the original (PDF) on January 4, 2011. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  2. ↑ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/royal-winnipeg-ballet-artistic-director-1.7440627
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Artistic Staff: Christopher Stowell, Artistic Director". Oregon Ballet Theatre. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  4. 1 2 Butler, Grant (March 19, 2011). "Christopher Stowell helps Oregon Ballet Theatre grow by leaps and bounds". The Oregonian . Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Founding Artistic Directors: Kent Stowell & Francia Russell". Pacific Northwest Ballet. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 "New dance dynasty in the Northwest". Dance Magazine. February 1, 2003. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Artistic Staff: Christopher Stowell, Resident Choreologist". Diablo Ballet. Archived from the original on July 5, 2008. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  8. ↑ "25 to watch: Dance Magazine predicts who's new and breaking through for 2004". Dance Magazine . January 2004. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.